Poultry feeders of the general type contemplated herein are well known and usually comprise a feed conveyor, such as a chain or auger, which directs feed to a plurality of feeders located along the conveyor. Each of the feeders includes a dispensing pan for receiving the feed and making same available to the poultry.
This conventional feeder is mounted on and is generally suspended downwardly from the conveyor, and the feed which is moved along the conveyor is discharged therefrom downwardly through a feed control assembly, which in turn controls the flow of feed therefrom into the pan. The feed control assembly conventionally utilizes an upper feed tube or drop which is secured to and projects downwardly from the conveyor, and the lower end of this feed tube is often telescopically surrounded by a control sleeve which can be vertically displaced to vary the vertical gap which exists between the lower end of the control sleeve and the pan bottom, thereby regulating the quantity of feed which is discharged from the control assembly into the pan. The control sleeve is normally supported such that it can be elevationally adjustably positioned only at selected positions or steps, so that the feed-dispensing gap between the pan and the control sleeve is thus adjustable only in discrete steps.
For example, in a construction which is extensively utilized throughout this industry, the control sleeve is supported on and suspended from the feed drop by releasable spring clips or detents, which detents cooperate with a plurality of vertically (and often peripherally) spaced holes or slots. By manually releasing the spring clips or detents, the control sleeve can be manually vertically (and circumferentially) adjusted so that the clips or detents align with a new hole or slot, whereupon the clips or detents are released to lock the control sleeve in its newly-selected elevation. While this type structure does permit the feed-dispensing gap to be adjusted, nevertheless it enables this adjustment to occur only in select increments or steps, and it has been discovered that such stepwise adjustment is oftentimes inadequate to provide the precise control required for optimum feeding of poultry. In addition, this type adjustment normally requires the operator to utilize both hands in order to accomplish the adjustment of the control sleeve. This structure is also of substantial complexity in that the feed drop and control sleeve are normally fabricated from metal, and hence have to be provided with suitable slots, openings or apertures therein, and suitable clips or detents must be provided for cooperation between the slots and/or apertures formed in the feed drop and control sleeve. The overall assembly is thus substantially expensive to fabricate. Examples of feeders of this type are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,230,933, 3,585,970 and 3,971,340.
In another variation of a conventional feeder, while there is again provided a control sleeve which is elevationally adjustable relative to the feed drum, nevertheless in this variation the control sleeve is held by a support which fits on or within the pan, which support employs releasable clips or detents which engage a series of holes or slots in the control sleeve to permit incremental or steplike adjustment in the elevation of the control sleeve. This thus again possesses the disadvantageous incremental adjustment of the feed gap, and also oftentimes interferes with proper flow of feed in the pan due to the presence of the support therein. Examples of this construction are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,388,690 and 3,811,412.
In still another conventional variation, the control sleeve is integral or fixed with the feed drop, and the pan is directly suspended from the control sleeve by suitable clips or brackets which releasably cooperate with a series of holes or slots in the control sleeve or other related structure, so that by releasing the support arrangement, the pan is itself physically raised and lowered and then resecured so as to vary the feed discharge gap. The adjustment occurs only in discrete steps or increments, and is further disadvantageous since the pan itself must be physically disconnected and its elevation manually changed in order to adjust the feed flow. Changing the elevation of the pan is obviously undesirable since this thus changes its position relative to the floor. Examples of this type apparatus are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,408,988, 3,511,215, 3,566,843 and 3,911,868.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved poultry feeder, specifically a dispensing pan assembly, which is generally of the first aforesaid type but which overcomes the aforesaid disadvantages.
More specifically, the present invention relates to an improved pan-type poultry feeder wherein the tubular feed control assembly permits the annular dispensing gap between the feed pan and the control sleeve to be infinitely adjusted over a rather wide range so as to permit the feed dispensing rate to be precisely adjusted and controlled, thereby providing for optimum feeding of poultry, and hence eliminating the problems which have long been associated with feeders which have solely permitted incremental or stepwise adjustment. This improved feeder also permits the infinite adjustment of the control sleeve to be easily performed, such as by simple manual single-handed manipulation of the control sleeve, without requiring release of support clips or detents or similar devices, so that a precise adjustment operation can be carried out simply and efficiently. This improved poultry feeder is further advantageous since the feed control assembly is formed solely of two parts, namely the tubular feed drop and the control sleeve, and hence the poultry feeder can be manufactured and assembled efficiently and economically.
Summarizing a preferred embodiment of the invention, the poultry feeder possesses a feed control assembly which includes a tubular feed drop secured to and projecting downwardly from the conveyor, and a tubular feed-flow control member which is mounted on and projects downwardly below the feed drop. The upper portion of the feed drop has a suitable structure, such as a flange, which mounts thereon a top plate associated with a hoodlike wire grille, which grille projects downwardly and outwardly and engages the rim of the pan for supporting same below the feed control assembly. The tubular feedflow control member has an upper annular portion which is internally threaded and is engaged with external threads formed on the lower portion of the feed drop. These threads are formed to create an interference fit therebetween, and for this purpose the feed drop and control member are preferably formed (as by being molded) of a plastic material. The interference fit between the threads permits the control member to be rotated and hence its elevation infinitely adjusted through a selected range so as to vary the vertical spacing (and hence the annular gap) between the pan bottom and the lower end of the control member. While the control member can be readily manually rotated to adjust the feed gap as desired, nevertheless the interference threads between the feed drop and control member securely maintain the control member in its adjusted position, without requiring external detents or the like. The interference thread arrangement is preferably provided with one or more elongated grooves extending axially therethrough, such as grooves formed on the feed drop, for permitting contaminating materials to be wiped off the threads into the grooves, and then fall downwardly therethrough into the feed pan. One of these slots preferably has indicia, such as numbers, associated therewith so that the operator can readily determine and record the desired adjusted position of the control member. The control member preferably has the lower portion thereof formed as a conical skirt which flares outwardly and surrounds the raised conical center portion of the pan so as to provide proper control over the flow of the feed through the annular gap.
Other objects and purposes of the improved poultry feeder will be apparent to persons familiar with structures of this type upon reading the following description and inspecting the accompanying drawings.